About

Do you dream of being your own boss? Do you think creating an online business is the way to do that? If along with all of this you have a passion for food and creativity, then Chopped Academy is the place for you! Chopped has grown from a conference for food bloggers to a full range of resources for bloggers including a podcast and a blog, webinars and more! All of these resources are coordinated by Marly McMillen who blogs at Namely Marly. Marly is also the voice behind the Chopped Podcast.

The Chopped Academy Team

Marly McMillen Beelman

Founder and Creative Director, Marly is a former consultant, executive director and COO turned entrepreneur! She has an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked her way up the corporate ladder, but all the while had her eye on creating her own career path. She’s passionate about living a high energy life, including sharing vegan recipes with her audience. Marly’s creative flair doesn’t only reside in the kitchen. Marly has a background in business including former executive experience, she’s a volunteer member of her community Parks and Recreation board of directors, she’s the director of the Chopped Conference and the host of the Chopped Podcast, and a previous volunteer for the Small Business Development Center.

Favorite Snack: Peanut butter on a banana with chocolate chips. Try it!Favorite Movie: The Princess Bride, Under the Tuscan Sun, Something’s Gotta GiveFor Fun: Painting brown furniture white. Yaass!What Superpower do wish you could have? Super Eater. I would eat all I want, save the world, and still look fabulous in a bikini. Hey a girl has to dream.

Cara Ansis

Cara Ansis is one of the 2016 Co-Hosts for Chopped Conference. In addition to being there in person and speaking, Cara has been participating in planning the conference as well. She will be there to great you with bells on when you walk in the door.

Shawn Beelman

Director of Technology, Shawn is more than just Marly’s hubby, friend and tennis hitting partner, he’s also the photographer, website developer, graphic designer and sound technician/producer. He writes, performs and records the music for the Chopped Podcast and does all the technical setup for recordings and processing each episode as well.

Shawn has been a professional graphic designer since 1990. His specialty is designing and programming websites for small- to medium-sized businesses and organizations, but he has experience in other areas of graphic design as well, including logo design.

Favorite Snack: ApplesFavorite Movie: Fight ClubFor Fun: Playing tennis and guitar, photographyWhat Superpower do wish you could have? Flying would be nice.

About Chopped Conference

Chopped Conference was envisioned as a conference for food bloggers bringing together people with a passion for food and for connecting. This event is hosted in Kansas City, a great, central location for a lot of food bloggers. Kansas City is within driving distance of many midwestern locations from Oklahoma City, to Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Des Moines, Omaha, Denver, Memphis, Little Rock, and even Dallas, depending on how comfortable you are with the drive. Kansas City is in the heart of the midwest with a thriving urban area, and we’ve secured a great urban destination: The River Market Event Place, where we enjoy a day of jam-packed informational content and networking sessions.

The Mission of Chopped Conference is to bring together different communities of people with a passion for food around the core ideas of love, family, and community, and finding ways to share that via blogging to a larger audience.

Chopped Conference is not centered on any particular diet or type of food, so it’s open to anyone who has a blog and a passion for food. It features sessions on: blogging, photography and editing, food styling, how to work with a virtual assistant, how to make the most of your social media, and more! In addition to interactive sessions you’ll experience two special parties: a Welcome Mixer and a Closing Happy Hour. You’ll also have some fun networking opportunities throughout the weekend.

About the Chopped Podcast

The Chopped Podcast features interviews with food bloggers, industry experts, inspirational individuals, and others who can offer advice an inspiration for bloggers with a focus on food. Interviews last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour (and sometimes longer, but not often). Sit back, relax, and listen in as Marly interviews folks on food photography, recipe development, maintaining personal health goals as a blogger, finding happiness, SEO, building your email list and more!

Podcasts are published each week. If you have ideas for topics or people who should be interviewed or other feedback, feel free to contact us.

If you love these resources for food bloggers, there’s more to come…soon!

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